ALTHOUGH the focus has been on one Hibs player’s desire to escape his contract and leave the club, captain David Gray says the extended deal signed by Alan Stubbs this week is a major boost when it comes to retaining the services of many others in the squad.

THE Championship flag will be unfurled at Tynecastle tomorrow but while it will serve as a reminder of all that was achieved last term, Hearts manager Robbie Neilson says the pomp and ceremony will mean little if they can’t get the new campaign off to a winning start.

THE flag unfurling ceremony at Celtic Park this afternoon will mark the passing of a year in which Craig Gordon has been raised to the status of standard bearer by supporters of the Scottish champions. The keeper remembers their opinion of him being altogether different 12 months ago.

IN FOOTBALL, the end can always be said to justify the means. Norway’s most famous coach, Egil Olsen, was never praised for the artistic merit of his teams but his often agricultural style of play led his country to two World Cup finals tournaments and an all-time high Fifa ranking of second on the planet.

ALAN Stubbs left Scott Allan out of the starting line-up against Rangers last weekend and he will consider the impact of the ongoing transfer furore before deciding on the team for tomorrow’s League Cup fixture with Montrose. But if the Hibernian playmaker is benched, his manager says it should not be seen as a punishment.

MIDFIELDER John McGinn is expected to become Hibernian’s latest signing today but his new manager has stressed that the 20-year-old is not a replacement for the restless Scott Allan but will instead be used to bolster the club’s promotion push.

ABERDEEN boss Derek McInnes last night backed his team to finish the job at Pittodrie after Kenny McLean’s precious away goal in their Europa League third-round qualifying tie first leg against Kairat Almaty in Kazakhstan.

CHARLIE Miller has insisted it is inevitable that Scott Allan will leave Hibs and join Championship rivals Rangers because the financial return for a disaffected player will outweigh his influence on the field.

Being old enough to remember the Skol Festival Trophy which the English participants didn’t seem to take seriously – Coventry City turning up in hideous brown back in 1979 and Manchester City turning up, well, fat – I’ve never had high expectations of those summer skirmishes before the real action begins, even when there’s a prize on offer. But what an incredible match we witnessed at Easter Road at the weekend.

IT CAN’T be easy being told you are no longer wanted by the football club that has been a focus of your life for more than half of it. Especially when, for so long, the perception from afar has been of you as one of that team’s brightest young prospects.

HEARTS head coach Robbie Neilson has told Alim Ozturk that he must become a “role model” after handing the 22-year-old defender the captaincy ahead of experienced campaigners such as Neil Alexander and last season’s vice-skipper Morgaro Gomis.

HAVING seen off the Icemen, Celtic must now turn their attention to the Horsemen. That is the nickname by which Azerbaijani side Qarabag are known by their supporters and they are certainly one of the dark horses of the Champions League qualification process this season.